Phantom of Amity Park
by The Cinderninja
Summary: Once a halfa, always a halfa.
1. Chapter 1

**Mossmask: At one point this story was taking a backseat to my other fic, GatG, but I've lost my muse, inspiration, and direction for that all at once. This fic has always had direction, and that hasn't changed since the day I first conceived the idea. So, I guess that means this fic just burst it's way up to the top rung on my priorities. It's about time, too.  
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**~Cya on the other side.**

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><p>Phantom of Amity Park<br>Danny Phantom fanfiction  
>by The Cinderninja<p>

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><p><em>The nine-year-old girl ran through the garden, dragging her brother by his wrist. She had long brown braids falling down her back and wore a black turtleneck sweater with a weird sort of 'D' printed on the front in white ink – her mother had bought it for her less then an hour ago at a local giftshop, after only six minutes of constant high-pitched begging.<em>

_ "Come on, I found a ghost! A real live ghost!"_

_ Her brother looked irritated but let her drag him nonetheless. "I really doubt that. And if it is a ghost, then it can't be _alive._"_

_ "Don't be such a spoilsport! _He said he'd tell me a story._"  
><em>

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><p>I knew something was wrong the moment I woke up. I wasn't sure what it was right away, but something just felt different. And completely wrong. As I sat myself up slowly, the first thing I noticed was my hands. They were covered in glowing white gloves.<p>

_I was still in ghost form?_ That was odd. Usually, when I get knocked out I automatically change back. Odd, but not completely impossible. It had happened on a few occasions in the past. So I guess I didn't think it was that big a deal at the time.

I was still trying to get my bearings, and had a killer headache. I rubbed my hands against my eyes, trying to clear my vision and get a good view of where I was. I was sitting in a pile of concrete – the remains of what used to be a big fountain, in the middle of the park. I recognized the place right away, but I couldn't remember what I had been doing there.

Frowning, I pulled myself up. I actually had to phase intangible at one point, when I realized that my legs were pinned by a chunk of fallen concrete. I winced. That looked painful. It would probably hurt tomorrow. I was just surprised – and incredibly lucky – that I apparently hadn't broken anything. It was in that next minute, as I was standing beside the fountain and staring, completely clueless as to what had happened, when I finally pinned exactly what it was that was bothering me – I wasn't breathing.

The next sensation to hit me was overwhelming panic. It felt a bit like when I had first realized that I was a ghost. I tried to breath, but ended up choking and sputtering awkwardly. It just wasn't happening. I stopped as another thought occurred to me, and held a hand against my chest, searching desperately for a heartbeat that I already knew wasn't there. I felt sick. Whatever was going on, it wasn't good.

I know, I know. I'm a ghost, right? Why am I freaking out about not breathing? My missing heartbeat? Well... I'm only half ghost. I'm still half human! And the way my two halves interact...well, I never really understood it. But the thing is I could use some – not all, of my ghost powers without actually transforming. I could still be a normal human kid with ghost powers.

But it worked both ways. When I was in ghost form, I still had a few of my human traits. Like the ability - the _need_ - to breathe, and a heartbeat for example. A few other things too, but still. These were most important. They were kinda my focus at the moment. So obviously, if I didn't _have_ those, then... I shuddered at the implications.

I was really freaking out here. I mean, I woke up in the middle of the park, alone, with no idea what had happened. And apparently a lot more ghost then the last time I checked. Finally, I realized that there was one last thing I could do. Searching inside of myself, I can't begin to explain how relieved I was when I felt those familiar rings split around me, turning me back into my regular, human self.

But the relief was short lived. I still wasn't breathing. I still couldn't find a heartbeat. And I was still freezing cold. Normally, my human self was a lot warmer than my ghost half, despite the ice powers I had in both forms. But I suppose that was because of blood circulation and the fact that I didn't have my ice core as a human... but that's besides the point.

I honestly didn't know what was happening. What _had_ happened. But right now, I didn't care. I was myself again. My normal, human self. So what if I wasn't breathing? Did I care? Not a chance. Well, I did, but I managed to convince myself that I didn't, because I really didn't_ want_ to care. Not right now. Now I had to get home. I could care later...

Because as long as I was human, I wasn't a ghost. And as long as I wasn't a ghost, I wasn't dead. Even if science wanted to contradict me. I was still here, right? That's good enough for me. I shivered, suddenly crossing my arms and looking around with a feeling of paranoia.

It was late – it was already dark out. I had almost certainly missed curfew by now. That thought got me going. I turned around and sprinted out of the park, in the direction of home. It would have been a lot faster if I'd flown, but right now I wasn't comfortable going ghost. I would make it home like a normal human being.

It was still the weirdest feeling, as I ran but didn't feel myself needing to gasp for breath. I mean, hey, Phantom may be pretty fit, but for some reason, unlike injuries, _that_ never transferred over. For the first time, the lack of breath and pulse didn't actually bother me. I kinda liked it. I ran the whole way home without stopping. When I got there, I didn't feel like my chest was about to burst. There was no painful pounding from my overworked heart, no choking and gasping or tasting blood in the back of my throat. Yeah, I could get used to this.

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><p>No, I didn't tell Jazz - my sister. Or my best friends Sam or Tucker. Why should I? I didn't know what was going on, I didn't want to worry them yet – at least, that's what I told myself. I think my mind was made up as soon as I realized I could still transform back in the park. Of course I knew what was wrong, on some subconscious level. It was obvious.<p>

I was dead. But somehow, I wasn't. And as long as I could still pretend, I was going to. If I let my friends and sister in on it... they'd ruin everything. They'd make a big deal of it, they'd... they wouldn't let me act like nothing was wrong, they'd probably make me tell mom and dad. So I couldn't tell them.

Once a halfa always a halfa, I guess. The more I thought about it the next day, the more sense it made to me. When I, uh... when... well, you know. When I was _alive –_ I could go ghost. I was a human with a ghost half. And my ghost half shared the same traits as my living human half, because ghost or not, I was still _alive._

So now... I guess it's the same thing. But all backwards. I'm not a kid with ghost powers. I'm a ghost with... I don't know. Not human powers. But I can still be human. Or pretend to. I can still be myself. I don't know how it all works, don't ask me because I can't explain it. All I know is that even when I was a ghost I was still alive. But now, even as a human, I'm... not.

But I promised I'd stop thinking about that. I'm not going to worry about it. I promised. I looked down at my hands, as I sat in my desk. My normal, human hands. My normal, human self. And I looked up,at my normal, human friends. Classmates. Teacher. But it still felt wrong. I felt empty, hollow. I felt horrible, like there's nothing there inside me. I wondered if this was what the other ghosts felt like. I was still still staring at my hands. I didn't notice.

"Danny!" Suddenly, Sam's voice snapped me out of it, and I jumped, looking over at her.

"Uh, sorry.. what?" I asked, kind of embarrassed.

She shook her head slightly, and met my eyes. She looked worried. "I was asking if you were okay. You're acting sort of... weird." she paused there, looking for the right word.

I didn't answer for a long moment. That sick feeling came back. After a while though, I turned away from her and picked my pencil back up. "Yeah," I lied. "I'm fine."


	2. Chapter 2

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Phantom of Amity Park  
>Danny Phantom fanfiction<br>by The Cinderninja

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><p>One week. It had been one week exactly. My friends had noticed that something was wrong with me, they just didn't know what. I was on edge, I was jumpy... moreso than usual. I was paranoid. I don't know why, but for that first little while, I had a lingering sense of paranoia. It followed me everywhere.<p>

I guess it could have come from the stress of trying to pretend that everything was fine. I was lying to my friends _and_ myself. I mean, it's... well it's not something I can really go into, not now. But I can understand why I did it. Imagine if you found out you were dead, but no one else knew. Would you tell them? Maybe you think you would, but it's a whole different thing when it happens. It's scary, y'know?

So anyway, it was a week to the day, and I still hadn't figured out what had actually _happened_ there, or why I was even at the park in the first place. For some reason though, that all seemed unimportant to me. I just woke up that morning, and suddenly I couldn't handle it. I needed to tell someone, so I called Jazz in. I don't know why. I thought she would know what to do.

I guess it was that 'big sister' mentality. I never really saw her that way before – she'd always just seemed annoying and overbearing. But suddenly, _this_ day, she seemed like an older sister. Someone I could talk to who would listen and help exactly when I needed it. So there she was, rushing around for school, and I just walked right up and stood in front of her and grabbed her wrist.

That surprised her. For a few reasons. The first reason was that I'd been avoiding touching people lately. I didn't like letting them too close to me. I was still so cold. I thought someone would notice – no, they probably wouldn't have, but I think it was all a part of that imposing paranoia.

So anyway, she gave me this strange look when I grabbed her wrist and just looked at her. Then she lowered her eyebrows. "Danny, what's wrong?" She asked. Her voice sounded strange. I think she knew right off that something was really bothering me. The look she gave me, and the way she just followed when I dragged her to my room. She kept looking at my hand on her wrist. Maybe she had noticed, after all. "You're cold." She said. It was under her breath, but I caught it anyway.

I sat down on my bed and she sat beside me. She didn't say anything about how I was making her late for school even though I knew she noticed. She just sat and waited there while I stared at my floor. I suddenly didn't know what to say. How do you tell your sister that you've been dead for a week? How would I even begin to explain why I hadn't told her in the first place?

Yes, I know I explained it to you. But this was a long time ago, I didn't really have any time to think it over. For me, this was just happening. It was fast and I didn't have time to think it over. I just had to talk to my sister, but I didn't know what to say. So I didn't really say anything at first. I got this idea, and finally looked up and met her eyes.

She was still staring at me. I got the feeling that she hadn't ever looked away. In a moment of courage, reached over and grabbed her hand, pulling it over to myself. I placed her hand on my chest and stared at her, looking into her eyes. For some reason, I felt like I couldn't look away now. Now that I'd started, I couldn't pull out. I had to finish this.

She just looked at me. I could see confusion in her eyes. Neither of us could look away from the other, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to say anything. I tried a few times. My voice just wouldn't work. Finally, she shook her head gently, breaking eye contact. "I don't get it, Danny." She said slowly. "What are you trying to show me?"

I grabbed her hand again and held it in place, trying to get my point across but still not able to just come out and tell her. Then it hit me, the feeling of paranoia was back, and it made me pull back abruptly, pulling my knees up to my chest and crossing my arms. She was staring at me, startled.

I shook my head quickly, trying to get rid of the feeling but it wouldn't go away. I looked up at Jazz again and stared at her through the messy black bangs hanging over my face. I think she saw something there, because she was suddenly by my side. "Danny, what is going on?" She asked, sounding far too concerned.

And then it was gone. The feeling was gone, and everything felt normal again. I felt like time had just stopped and restarted itself. I blinked in surprised and looked at my sister. "Jazz..?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah, Danny. I'm right here. You need to talk to me." She was still sitting beside me. I realized she had one arm around my back, holding me up. I leaned into her side. It was comfortable there. I didn't want to let her go. I was being weird, I know. She did too. I never acted like that. I guess I was a typical boy. Never really liked showing affection, or being close to people... especially not my sister. But now it was okay.

I nodded slightly, and took her hand back. Putting it against my chest again. I don't know why but that was important to me. I needed her to feel it. Like I had. I could always feel it. Or rather, I could never feel it. How could she not notice? "Jazz, there's nothing there." I said.

It took her a second, but she got it. Her eyes widened slightly and she looked at me quizzically. "What? But Danny, that's impossible-" She stopped when she met my eyes. "Okay... but what does that mean?" I never took my eyes away from hers. She was acting just like I had. She knew, and I knew she knew, but it just didn't make sense, so we wouldn't accept it. That, and, we just didn't want to. Denial is a powerful thing.

But I had to make her see it. Force her to. My eyes darkened. "What do you think it means?" I asked. It was the same sarcastic tone I always used, but for some reason,something about it seemed bitter and dark. I didn't like it, and it made me shiver. I could tell Jazz was unsettled as well.

"Danny, don't-"

"I'm not breathing either." I cut her off. Damn it Jazz, just accept it. Ah... sorry. I didn't mean to say that. I forgot who I was talking to to a minute there. Yeah, it feels real to me. Every time I tell it. I'm a ghost, so my memories don't really fade over time. It's just as real as the day it happened.

She just shook her head, looking at me. She still had that strange expression on her face, but now there was another light in her eyes. It was something I couldn't identify, and I didn't recognize it. It actually scared me a bit, the way she was looking at me right at that moment.

And then she surprised me by grabbing me and pulling me into a hug. I really don't know what I'd been expecting at the moment, but it wasn't that. She caught me completely off guard, so I just sat there in her arms while she hugged me.

"But Danny. That doesn't make sense. I mean, it can't-"

"Jazz, _stop!"_ I think I sort of yelled at her. I don't know why, she was just really irritating me. I didn't mean to sound so harsh, I just wanted her to stop. I couldn't understand what she was doing at the time, or why. I just wanted her to stop arguing and say okay. That she got it and was okay with it. But then, I guess I'd known that she wouldn't be. That was why I didn't want to tell her.

"I'm sorry." I said hoarsely. It was so sudden, I think I caught her off guard. That wasn't what she'd been expecting me to say. She pulled away and held me at arms length, looking into my eyes. I met her gaze for a few seconds, but after that I started feeling sick and looked away. I couldn't meet her eyes.

"I – I'm sorry." I repeated, suddenly pulling away. "It's been a week." I added quieter. "I know I should have told you sooner..." her eyes widened and her grip tightened on my shoulders. She stared at me before pulling me close and burying her head in my shoulder.

"Oh, Danny..."

I stood up and backed away from her. "I'm sorry! And, I should have told you! But I _couldn't_. I didn't want to. I wanted everything to be the same. To be normal." I was stuttering, and I wasn't making sense, and I think I'd hurt her when I'd run away from her hug.

"I... I shouldn't be here." I added suddenly, the thought only now occurring to me. "I shouldn't still be doing this. I have to go." I didn't know if I meant I shouldn't be in the house, or I shouldn't be in the human world altogether. I was so confused. I was overwhelmed by the sense of panic again and had backed myself against my bedroom wall. It hadn't even occurred to me yet to try phasing through it or anything.

By the time I did have that thought, Jazz had pulled me into another hug. I could have phased out of it but I didn't want to. I just sat there on the floor and let her hug me, because I didn't want to do anything else. I didn't want to have to keep thinking. I just wanted everything to be okay, and with Jazz, it would.

She finally pulled away and looked into my eyes, and I realized she was crying. "Danny." She spoke slowly and deliberately. "Please don't say that. You _should_ be here. With your family. With me. And mom, and dad. And, and your friends. Please, don't say that." she shook her head slightly, and crossed her arms. And then, when I saw her sitting there on my floor like that, I suddenly felt like the older sibling.

Felt like I had to do something. So I sat back down and promised her I wouldn't. I wouldn't say that again. I hadn't thought she'd want me to. I was sure she'd be ashamed of me, or disappointed. But if Jazz wanted me to keep pretending, then I would. Besides, I knew it was what I still wanted. I wanted everything to be normal, and we were going to make sure it was. Force it to be.

But I still felt sick. Me and her sat side by side on my floor, completely forgetting about school. Forget late, it had probably already started. Neither of us cared. Finally, I looked up and turned over to her. She must have seen the movement out of the corner of her eye or something, because she turned to look back at me a second later.

I took a deep breath – out of habit. I still could, but it felt weird and unnatural. It made me uncomfortable but I still liked to do it sometimes. "I... need to tell Sam. And Tucker. They should know to. They always kept my old secrets. What's one more?"

We both smiled weakly at each other. The smiles felt fragile, like the slightest movement could break them, but at least they were there. We could still smile. I laughed a bit and brushed my hand across her cheek, wiping away her tears.


	3. Chapter 3

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Phantom of Amity Park  
>Danny Phantom fanfiction<br>by The Cinderninja

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><p>You never really notice these things at first. You never really notice when you grow up. It just sort of happens, and since it's happening to you, you don't realize until a long time later. 'Hey, I'm older!' Right? So it was weird how we all just sort of noticed one day. Actually, it was our first day back to school after the summer. Our first day of grade 10.<p>

Yeah, I'd kept ghost fighting. But my grades had picked up a lot. Actually, I realized I didn't really need to sleep anymore. I could if I wanted to, just like breathing, but for me it was this huge relief. I didn't have to worry about being overtired in class because of ghosts keeping me up all night. Plus I had the rest of the night to try and catch up on school work.

Yeah, I know, who wants to do schoolwork? But I needed to. If I didn't wanna get held back a year, and all that. Heh. I guess most kids think that's at least one thing they won't have to do when they're dead. Or maybe not. I guess most kids don't think about that at all. But still, I _did_ still want to graduate. And my grades were in dire need of some picking up.

Turns out it's also a lot easier to focus in the middle of the night when you can't go play video games, watch TV, or hang out with your friends. I mean, there was nothing else for me to do besides sleep, and that just felt like a waste of time now. Plus, I never really seemed to forget lessons anymore. Even if I wasn't paying too much attention in class, I seemed to be able to remember all of it. It was pretty cool. So school was a breeze for me. Well, maybe not a _breeze_, but still. I was finally starting to do okay. That is... I would pass.

Anyway, back to where this started. Grade 10. Sam and Tucker had known since a little while before we were let out for summer holidays. And just like when I first got ghost powers, they and Jazz where the only people who knew. So there we were, in the auditorium, waiting for our new schedules. And Tucker just made this comment. About how he and Sam were outgrowing me.

Neither of us had really noticed before then, but I still looked like a grade 9. Not just that, but I mean, I still looked exactly like I did the day I died. I hadn't changed. I hadn't grown at all – not even my hair had grown out. Yikes. I'd better be careful not to get a bad haircut, if it wasn't gonna grow back. Sam just looked worried as we realized what that meant. Tucker still hadn't seemed to catch on. Hadn't really figured out the implications.

You might not have either. But it's actually kind of funny, what my first thought was right then. Well, not funny for me. Now I can look back and realize that my priorities were a little out of order, but still. Right then, all I could think was 'there go my chances of being an astronaut'. Who would ever let a 14 year old be an astronaut? Forget getting a job at all – a _real_ job. Forget even graduating. I mean, we could do what we were doing for a little while longer, but eventually? Eventually someone besides us would notice.

But not right then. Right then all I did was freeze up as I realized that there went my dream, right out the window. Heck, I'd probably lost it back when I'd made stopping the ghost attacks my responsibility. When my grades had dropped and I'd started skipping school. I thought, great, now that I'm able to get my grades back up, I might have a chance. And then that. Dream shattered, take two.

It was kind of depressing. I didn't say anything to them, just shrugged it off. Laughed a bit. Sam knew it was bothering me, and she'd also probably realized what it meant for my _entire future_. I would never age... Tucker still hadn't clued in though, and Sam seemed to be able to tell that I didn't want to tell him. Not yet, at least. I mean, the people of Amity were clueless! That was a _fact!_ So, maybe they wouldn't notice. For a few more years, at the very least. Maybe then we could find some sort of weird disease that could explain it. Or make on up. Most of them would be clueless enough to blindly believe whatever excuse we came up with.

And just like usual with me as of late, I refused to admit that anything was wrong until I was _forced_ to admit it. Unfortunately, that seemed to come a lot sooner then I'd hoped. I'd been acting depressed all day. Everyone had noticed – it was especially obvious on the first day of school, when everyone was fooling off and having fun. They never gave out schoolwork on the first day, so everyone was pretty much pushing their luck with slacking.

Thankfully, being me, even if everyone noticed no one but Sam and Tucker cared. And even if someone did care I was just some depressed kid as far as anyone knew. Unfortunately, Sam had decided it would be a good idea to tell Jazz. I guess she was hoping Jazz could help or something. Maybe if I hadn't been so down she would have left it be. Let me tell her myself. No way of knowing now, though.

Jazz brought it up to me after school, when I got home. I was sitting on my bed just sort of staring at the far wall. I'd been doing that a lot lately. Just totally zoning out. So anyway, I was just sitting there – actually, I suppose I was looking at my posters more then anything. I was considering taking them down. I didn't want them anymore. I used to think they were cool, now they just annoyed me. So I didn't hear the first time Jazz knocked on my door. She opened it a crack and peeked in – I guess to see if I was there.

When she noticed me just sitting on my bed, she called my name. Asked if she could come in. I was glad for the distraction, so I said sure, why not. She came in and sat down beside me. It was something that'd been happening a lot lately. Jazz coming in to talk to me. At first I'd really needed it. Then I'd started to find it annoying, and just wanted to be left alone. It felt like they – her and my friends – were treating me like I was this delicate thing that could break if they just looked at me the wrong way.

I told them that. I told them it annoyed me how they were suddenly treating me differently. How I just wanted to be normal. Well, normal for a ghost-powered teen superhero. That seemed to worry them even more at first, but they'd gone along with it. Until now. Now it was just like before. Sam going behind my back to talk to Jazz! It was like they didn't trust me! Or maybe... I was being paranoid again. They told me I'd been way too paranoid lately. Irritable, too. It's true though, I guess. I was always getting annoyed with people for no good reason.

So there was Jazz, just sitting beside me on my bed not saying anything. It was like she was waiting for me to go first. Sure, just come into my room and wait for _me_ to talk to _you_? Whatever. Must be some weird psychology thing or something. But I did get the feeling that she wasn't going to leave until I did, so I sighed frustratedly and looked away from the posters lining my walls. "Well? What is it?" I asked, sounding more annoyed then I'd meant to.

Jazz looked away. "Danny, I need to talk to you." she began slowly. Well duh. Why else would you be in here? "Sam told me about today..."

"What?" I asked, suddenly more than annoyed. It bothered me when my friends talked about me when I wasn't around. Like I couldn't deal with things myself. "What did she tell you?" I asked, defensively. Hoping that maybe she'd just brought up how I was depressed. Jazz was good at fixing that, even if she didn't know what was going on. But no, Jazz admitted that she knew about the other thing. The fact that'd I'd stopped growing – stopped changing, at all. Before I could get mad though, she also admitted that she'd already guessed. Even before I had noticed, she'd realized what was going on.

She'd thought it might, as soon as she'd been able to calm down and think things through, those first couple months. If I wasn't doing anything else, why would I grow? It wouldn't make sense if my whole body had just stopped and shut down. So she'd guessed it would happen. It wasn't for a while longer that she could actually know for sure, when she could actually watch my friends changing over time, and me, staying the same. I thought it was kind of creepy that she'd been doing that – and not even told _me._ Huh.

When I brought it up though, what she said surprised me. "You wanted to act like everything was fine." But... she hadn't wanted to let me. She said it wasn't good for me, to pretend like nothing was happening. "I knew it would bother you. I figured I'd let you find out on your own. I didn't want to burst the little bubble you'd built for yourself." Wow. That actually caught me off guard. She'd actually been respecting what I'd wanted, even if she thought it was a bad idea? That was actually kinda... cool. Cool of her to do.

So I told her so. "Wow... Jazz. You mean, you didn't tell me just because I didn't want you to?"

She nodded, looking guilty.

"That's... wow. That's really cool." She shook her head. She didn't think so. She felt bad about it.

"No, Danny. It's not – I mean, I should have told you." I shook my head. I didn't want her feeling bad the one time she'd actually done what I wanted.

"No way, Jazz. I'd be just as upset. You just let me enjoy myself a little longer. That's exactly what I asked you to do." And then I hugged her. She was still a little surprised, but not nearly as much as she probably would have been in the past. We'd been doing a lot more bonding lately. I mean, dying isn't something you just say 'okay, cool. Now that that's dealt with, let's move on.' For either of us. And she was obviously the only person I could talk to about it.

Sam and Tucker were great, sure, but it wasn't the same. And they seemed awkward about the whole thing. I think they still didn't like to talk about it. A lot like me, they wanted to be able to pretend everything was normal. I think it's mostly because I was able to act so normal around them, like nothing was wrong. I think sometimes they actually forgot. But not Jazz. She was always there. Like I said, it was annoying at first, but I got used to it. And after a while, I came to rely on it.

She came back into my room a few hours later. All of my posters and star charts were gone. I'd stuffed them in the trash.


End file.
